With a high incidence of esophageal cancer in our country, the treatment of esophageal cancer is a major clinical challenge. Most of the patients with esophageal cancer do not receive treatment at early stage, and the 5-year survival rate is less than 20%. The change of esophageal cancer is a slow, multi-stage, multi-step evolution process, so the early treatment of esophageal cancer is of great significance. For early esophageal carcinoma involving only in the mucous membrane or shallow submucosal membrane, the endoscopic treatment can achieve a radical cure, which is comparable to surgical curative efficacy, and has the advantages of little trauma, less pain and quicker recovery. The 5-year survival rate can be more than 95%. This paper summarizes the progress and development of endoscopic treatment of early esophageal cancer in recent years in China in order to standardize the clinical application and improve the clinical curative efficacy.